


Of Angels

by Horizonholds



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 10:51:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4134705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Horizonholds/pseuds/Horizonholds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sidonis, who was always defined by his failures, the effects of betrayal, and reading between the lines. The rise and fall of Archangel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Angels

_and so it is_  
_the shorter story_  
_no love, no glory_  
\- Damien Rice, "The Blower's Daughter"

******

"I wasn't in love with her. She was human." Is the gist of what Garrus says when Sidonis finally tracks Garrus down in a dingy bar in the wards. But Garrus is very drunk, and Sidonis tracking him down in some bar or other was now routine.

Sidonis isn't sure who Garrus is trying to convince, since this conversation plays out with some variation every time Sidonis tracks Garrus down. Sidonis always thought humans were oddly squishy and hairy, but the females had some features in common with the asari, and everyone wanted the asari. Garrus was taking the human's death much harder than if Shepard had just been an officer.

So Sidonis tries to prop Garrus up, sober him out, and reminds him that if he was trying to reapply for C-Sec and Specter training, this was the wrong way to go about it.

Not that Garrus listens. Garrus was the sort that once something got into his head, not even a mass effect drive could wiggle it loose. But no one could say Sidonis didn't try. He could see Garrus was destined for something great. Greater than Sidonis would ever achieve (Garrus was a damn hero of the Citadel) and friends don't let friends join them in the mediocre pile.

But Garrus washes out of Specter and C-Sec, and not much later Sidonis leaves C-Sec to follow him. Someone has to look after Garrus Vakarian, if Garrus won't look after himself.

******

"There's no red tape. My kind of place."

They go to Omega. Garrus wants to make a difference somewhere, anywhere. Sidonis just wants to make sure his friend doesn't fall off the deep end. This would be easier if Garrus didn't have a talent for finding the worst possible trouble, and then putting himself right in the middle of it.

This makes some of the local gangs pissed. But the humans of Omega start calling Garrus Archangel, and the name sticks and Garrus isn't Garrus anymore, he's Archangel now. Garrus starts disappearing into his armor and his weapons and Sidonis wonders if Garrus can see himself anymore. Sidonis wonders if Archangel sees Sidonis at all, always a few steps behind and watching his back.

******

"I can't pay you."

"I say I want money?"

Archangel's first 'recruit' is an accident. They were meeting a contact in a small watering hole, and when fire opens from the street side, Sidonis first thought the gangs were after them.

It turns out the real target was a human at the bar, who responded by jumping over the bar for cover and throwing a flash bomb. Sidonis, Garrus, and the human kill the group quickly. After there is silence and staring, the human watching from behind the bar and Garrus and Sidonis wondering if she's any different from those who'd just tried to kill them.

But she stretches the corners of her mouth, says she recognizes Archangel, and asks if she can help.

Her name is Israfel, and her fur is the color of fire and copper. She is also so pale Sidonis thinks she may glow in the dark like a grub.

They don't trust her at first. They don't know her. But Israfel is friendly and generous with her time and what resources she has, though she does not speak of her past. At first Sidonis thinks she is brain damaged, until he realizes she has no omnitool. When she speaks his own omnitool is not translating from a human language, but his own ears are trying to make sense of her mangled attempts to speak Palaven. She is an excellent shot with a pistol and can rig nearly anything to explode. Once they give her an omnitool of her own, she is fond of hacking into sound systems to confuse her pursuers.

Sidonis never manages to convince her to wear armor.

Not long after Israfel becomes 'official,' Archangel decides to expand their team. But Israfel was Sidonis' favorite.

Sidonis looks after Archangel. No one looks after him.

Israfel calls him "Luciel." Light-bearer. 

******

"See you on the other side."

Too late. He's too late. Sidonis gets Archangel – Garrus – away, but Israfel remains behind. Israfel was supposed to accompany Garrus, out of harms way. But she doesn't wear armor and what was the point of taking her to a negotiation if Sidonis was backing Garrus up?

The mercenaries ignore his one condition – return Israfel alive. She dies with the rest. Sidonis knows Garrus/Archangel (whichever his friend is now) won't let this lie, knows vengeance will come for him, but Sidonis can't bring himself to care.

Sidonis disappears. His body seems to move independently of him, seeking shelter and safety almost separately from Sidonis' mind. He thinks he understands what drell speak of, when the spirit and body are disconnected. His body has a will to live all its own, regardless of what Sidonis actually wants. Sidonis thinks maybe he should feel something, anything. The paranoia sets in. How could no one else know what had happened? He imagines the eyes of strangers watch him. Strip him bare and judge him.

He wants to be judged. He wants it to be over. When news reports of Archangel's death reach him, it's only with a fuzzy sense of disbelief. How could Sidonis have gotten away with murder?

Once he sees a human female with Israfel's fur – it's the right color, and even pulled together the way Israfel would do it – and the next time Sidonis wakes up it's face down in the same bar he pulled Garrus out of two years ago.

******

Shepard steps aside and Sidonis wonders who is at the other end of the rifle – Garrus, or Archangel? – and decides it doesn't matter.


End file.
